Review: ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp - Page 569

I re-read the post and am still missing the FLAC part he was comparing to, but I'll defer to your translation. I just missed it.

Hellicopter: my 2 cents--
"Listening" to music is a taught or learned skill. I don't believe anybody is really born with it. Some people can teach you some things. You can self teach and learn on your own. A lot of it boils down to detail and resolution.

One more thing I might add, the source material is very important. I've never used Dire Straights as an Eval tune. There may be some cuts on some pressings that are done well, but my experience is most are arranged and recorded so poor as to render them useless for any serious evaluation. I often look at what others use when they do an eval and use those tracks to see if I can here the same resolution or detail they are noticing.

Often this means that I listen to music that I normally would not, were I not trying to do an Evaluation. Paul Simon's Graceland UltraDisc, not my choice for listening, but a Nice Eval set for some details of voice and percussion. If I were not listening to it for eval, it would always be dusty.

Some of it boils down to which one makes you move to the music or tap your toe. I can take two sets of phones and be difficult to put my finger on why one sounds better to me, but I notice that one makes me sing along or just plain smile. That AMP/Phone/OpAmp, whatever is just doing something musical to me. I may try to pick up where in the track is different but just can't put my finger on it. I just know I like one a lot better than the other, or maybe a little better than the other, whatever. Now I can rank them from my own perception.

In the long run, it's like Cheryl says, "If it makes you happy". That's all it's really about.

Yeah I may have gotten that extra detail from reading his other (linked) post. Either way I can't decide if I'm jealous or glad it isn't me... will have to get back to you on that.

Oh no I knew I wasn't getting data parity.....dumb move on my part. I am looking at an external drive(s) right now for full back up (once I get my library ripped ). Rather than sinking the extra $$ needed for 2 more drives (when I upgraded the entire system last year) I spent that on a better Vid card (ATI 3870 512MB). I'm paying for that decision now although I had a spare 500 gig Seagate sitting around (now pressed into service as the primary drive) for the last 3 months.

In any event I've learned a painful lesson for sure........a 1 TB back up is on it's way.

The bright side ? A clean fast system.........

Peete.

Yea, what Scottie said. I wasn't totally clear at first but I meant that both V7 and CBR 112 are indistinguishable from lossless for me.

Yea, I think I am going to sell the amp. I bought it to rule out the possibility that I was serioulsy missing out in some area of performance of my DT770's but I really couldn't notice anything. Maybe if I tried harder I would notice something, but I am starting to realize, what is the point of searching so hard to justify a purchase (I am know I will get flamed for that comment, jk).

Are you sure you have it configured correctly ? It's quite easy to pick out the simple difference between bit perfect vs on board SC and whether or not it's being resampled by the on board audio's drivers.

How exactly have you setup the link between the computer and the Zero....this connection can make or break what level of SQ you get out of the head phones IMO.

Another very simple test to make sure your comp source is measuring up is to take a stand alone CDP or DVD player and feed the Zero with it's digital output and compare the 2. If the latter is better you have comp source issues. A decent quality CDP/DVD player is required since each of those may or may not have a great digital out. Generally speaking the computer is a great source and is mostly regarded as the best transport (although that is debatable IMO).

In any event...don't give up on audio, that makes little sense to me...acquire experience through live shows to give yourself a reference point or an idea of one in which to base your listening sessions on. It takes time to gain this experience so don't get discouraged....

Peete.

I link from my computer to the Zero through Xitel usb->optical adapter that came with the Zero. I tried optical and coax out of my moutherboard soundcard but noticed some static. Coud the Xitel be my weak link? I used to Kernel Stream in Foobar but it doesn't seem to work with the Xitel. From what I gather, this doesn't matter as long as you don't have other porgrams trying to play sound in windows.

I am almost certain you are not getting a pure untouched signal and this could explain why your having trouble differentiating between bit rates/file types etc...

Take a familiar CD and a regular CD/DVD player with COAX out and compare the sound of that CD vs playing the same CD through your computer based transport......you should be able to notice the difference immediately (if my hunch is correct that your current computer setup is the issue for the reduced SQ).

See if you can borrow a CD/DVDP if you don't have one of your own for this experiment.

If this experiment does expose the suspected weak link the solution is to buy a good sound card that can output a bit perfect SPDIF signal (COAX is best followed by Optical ) using a native or third party ASIO driver.

All of this is IMO of course

Peete.

Well, call me crazy, but after all this, I'm really liking the Opa Sun with my M8161 and Senn HD600. I think it gives everything that little extra punch and brightness that I liked from the Grados (my first good headphones) without being overly so (which is what made me trade in the Grados). Just makes the Senns a little more lively, which I guess I like.

Hi Scottie...is that the V2 SUN module ? I haven't gotten around to trying out the V2's I have yet.

That would make sense I think with the HD600's, they are lighter in the bass region than the 650's.

In any event as long as you like it that's all that really matters

Peete.

Actually no it's the original one. I tried it first (got the Earth and Sun at same time during the original deal) and liked it a lot. Then moved to the Earth and liked that. And then moon and liked that. I had been meaning to try the Sun again but it meant re-soldering the lead - my old job held but the other contacts came apart - I just re-did them all. Maybe I just like variety and in a few weeks I'll be compelled to switch again but for now I'm really having fun with this.

I've been listening to my Zero with ad627s hooked up to my Little Dot mk3 and my HD650s, my ears bleed after each listening session. I don't listen any louder than 70 DB at any given time. Is there a mod that I can use to make the Zero less harsh to my ears? I'm suspecting it's the Zero's fault anyway. All components have been burned in for at least 100 hours too. This dosn't make any sense to me, help any one?

switch opamps?

yeah I got a moon HDAM on order, l hope that'll help smooth out the sound a bit.

When I first listen to Sun V1, I dont like it. After I listen to Sun V2, I really like it a lot. The vocal is more forward, the guitar plucking is more energetic, the bass beats are deeper and the acoustics last longer.

Yes that's exactly how I feel about the Sun V1... pretty much exactly what I meant when I said it gave my Senns's a touch of that Grado sound. I'm liking it a lot.